Wetting grain before milling Vs not wetting it

[Ducatiboy stu]

Just trying to get you to think outside the square

I have converted a few. h34r:

 

[Danscraftbeer]

MaltConditioning3.jpg
Same here. A freak good Ozito drill that they discontinued of course. I have varied the mill gradient and just found that it all works. No really incredible differences to report. It all works. Best to set rollers at around 3/4 of the width of the grain.
That grain looks good enough. Every grain would have at least one fracture. I've done it like that before. It works. B)

 

[razz]

Helps to cut down on dust too!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

. Best to set rollers at around 3/4 of the width of the grain.

Not always the case. All mills are different so you need to adjust acordingly. I set mine at 0.9mm...some set wider, some tighter

 

[labels]

Looks good at less than 1mm.

I've been conditioning grain for the last 10 years. I use approx. 100ml water per 10Kg of grain. The shape of my mill hopper is different to most in that it has a very shallow sides, although this was done because of occasional stones stopping the mill, it makes it easy to condition grain as it goes through the rollers.

I only allow a minute or two after spraying and before milling. This keeps the water out of the grain starch and into the husks only allowing me to run a ~0.7 gap. Rust is not a problem with ss rollers and a 1/3rd horsepower motor running through a 120rpm reduction gearbox and a chain drive driving the mill, it's pretty easy running

 

[rude]

jeez I have a home made mill, nickel plated knurled scoffold tube,trailer axel middle

Run by a windscreen wiper motor

Have changed grains from BB to some German & Pommy malts lately

Had to open rollers up from 1.4 mm to 1.7 mm to stop the stuck sparges even then I am still overshooting og just

1mm & less thats fine I do mash & boil hard for a long time though but my wiper motor goes slow & steady she cried

Must give the spay a try also Ducati

Great photo of the crush by the way

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Must give the spay a try also Ducati

Nothing like a spayed Duc.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

jeez I have a home made mill, nickel plated knurled scoffold tube,trailer axel middle

Run by a windscreen wiper motor

Have changed grains from BB to some German & Pommy malts lately

Had to open rollers up from 1.4 mm to 1.7 mm to stop the stuck sparges even then I am still overshooting og just

1mm & less thats fine I do mash & boil hard for a long time though but my wiper motor goes slow & steady she cried

Must give the spay a try also Ducati

Great photo of the crush by the way

+1 for XD Falcon windscreen motor...can also turn a 40-70kg pig.........

Windscreen motors have HEAPS of starting torque...somewhat handy when milling grain......but I have already told people that

pffft for 1.7mm...open that bitch up until it just touches the husks...

 

[Fat Bastard]

Looks good at less than 1mm.

I've been conditioning grain for the last 10 years. I use approx. 100ml water per 10Kg of grain. The shape of my mill hopper is different to most in that it has a very shallow sides, although this was done because of occasional stones stopping the mill, it makes it easy to condition grain as it goes through the rollers.

I only allow a minute or two after spraying and before milling. This keeps the water out of the grain starch and into the husks only allowing me to run a ~0.7 gap. Rust is not a problem with ss rollers and a 1/3rd horsepower motor running through a 120rpm reduction gearbox and a chain drive driving the mill, it's pretty easy running

I kind of arrived at this figure of 10ml per kg this weekend. Tried 1/4 cup per 5kg (25ml/kg) this weekend and still had problems with sticking rollers, although im sure it also had to do with my 140w motor & gearbox combo.It wouldn't pull through at less than 1.3mm without dramas. I didn't spray though, I just dumped half into the bucket of grain and mixed it by hand for about a minute before repeating, and trying to put it through the mill. Put it through again at 0.9 and had bulk stuck mash problems with my HERMS rig. Learning curves & that...

Now looking for a new drive motor for the mill, although for what that will cost me I could almost stack another mill on top of mine and bodgy up a chain drive and run a 4 roller geared set up with different gaps on each set of rollers.

 

[technobabble66]

Ok.
DBS, razz & labels, etc may've converted me also, tha basterds!

I gave the grain rehydrating a shot on Saturday. Definitely seemed to work - i.e.: improved the husk structure and reduced dust as well.

I also used ~ 10mL per kg, sprayed onto the bucket o grain while i stirred it around by hand. Left it a minute or 2, then milled it (by hand, none of these fancy motors, etc). Pretty obvious the husks were more intact than normal. Conveniently, the mill was actually cleaner afterwards - from less dust formation by the look of it.
Recirc-ing & sparging then seemed to subsequently go a bit more smoothly. Also seemed to possibly add 3-4% efficiency at the end of it.

Yet another bit of process added to my brew day!
Luckily this one takes all of 3 minutes. B)

(so thanks DBS, labels, razz & others for making me aware of the wonders of grain rehydration!)